Phantom Thief of Gensokyo
by Lordserdan
Summary: "Case closed... This is how your 'Justice' ends." The flash of his gun was the last thing he remembered. When he came to, he was already falling through the air, in a Wonderland hidden in the East. This is a story about the redemption of a certain Wildcard, and the journey he went through.
1. Skyfall

The air was heavy.

Well it was more accurate to say that the air was _heavily_ pushing towards me in a rapid rate.

Hmm... Well no actually, the truth is, _I_ was the one pushing through the air in a rapid rate.

That is to say, I am currently falling through the air at a rapid rate with no parachute, and so far no way out.

'How the hell did I end up in this situation?!'

Well no use pondering that question now. Better get my bearings before I end up as a splatter on the ground. I quickly took a look at the rapidly expanding surrounding. Though that did not help me calm down in the slightest.

'Just where is this place?!'

The surroundings were, simply put, rural. He saw villages, dense forests, large lakes, mountains so tall you can barely see the peak, and the sun was shining ever so brightly in the clear blue sky.It was the straight opposite of the Urban Tokyo I had found myself in for a good year. Though I had little time to ponder about that, seeing as how the ground was getting closer and closer each passing second.

'Could I maybe try to fall in that lake ? No… it was too far. If only there was a way for me to glide across, even for a short while.'

Ah.. wait, there is still _that_, isn't there ? Though that idea might've worked, there is no actual way to execute it, seeing as how this place was neither Mementos nor a Palace. Just as I thought about that however…

Blue flames quickly combusted around me. The familiar sensation of power coursed through my body. And my face was then covered by my mask. The flames soon disappeared, revealing my clothes which had turned into my Joker outfit.

And then, the oh so familiar word came out of my mouth.

"PERSONA!"

The sound of breaking glass echoed through the air around me, and then the figure of my persona soon came into reality.

**I am thou... Thou art I... From the sea of thy soul, I come...**

"ARSENE!"

The red coloured and black winged persona quickly came into view.

"Arsene, give me your wings!"

Though Arsene's wings could not allow me to fully fly, it allowed me to change the direction of my fall, and it even managed to slow down the speed of my fall. The best course of action right now is to break my fall by landing on the lake.

The abundance of mist on top of the lake was the last thing i noticed before my vision turned black.

()-()-()-()

The guard was lying on the cold floor, unmoving. I didn't know if he was dead or just unconscious, though judging by the amount of blood that had surrounded him, it was probably the former. I looked up, only to find a hand, holding cold dark steel that was aimed at my head. It was the same one that was used against the guard that was lying on the ground.

"Case closed... This is how your "Justice" ends."

I barely heard what he said. The sound of ringing was reverberating inside my head. I didn't if it was from watching a man getting shot right infront of my eyes, or from the fear of the same happening to me. The feeling of regret was filling up inside me, pounding against my chest. I kept wondering if there was something else I could've done to prevent this outcome from happening. But ultimately, it was pointless. It was just the desperate thought of one failure of a thief.

"Guess... I lost, huh?"

And then the gun blinded me with it's flash, and it was all over.

()-()-()-()

_Or at least it should've been_. What happened after the man shot me, shouldn't I already be dead ? How did I end up falling through the air, and in such a strange place no less.

"Agh, my back.." Well my _whole_ body was hurting to be fair. But there's not much I can do about that now. "How did I end up here?" The last thing he remembered was falling into a lake, and yet right now he was sitting on top of grass, the lake was a few meters away. There was no way he managed to _somehow_ float his way into the shore, right?

"Finally, you're up and awake human!"

"Huh?" I looked at the direction of the voice, and what I saw baffled me.

"What's the matter, scared stiff? It's only natural, I mean, you _are_ sitting right in front of the strongest being in Gensokyou after all." The strongest being? Gensokyou? The heck is she talking about? More importantly though, what _is _she?

The person in front of me was about the height of a small child. She had blue vibrant hair, along with a blue ribbon. Her eyes was also a startling shade of blue, and her face showed a cocky and childish expression. The clothes she was wearing is quite normal, a blue dress on top of a white blouse, along with a red bow on her collar. What isn't normal however, are the wings protruding behind her back. They had ice like qualities to them, no, they _were_ ice, I'm sure. The wings were shining with the reflected light from the sun.

"What are you ?"

"Hmm? Whaddya mean, human?"

"Are you a shadow, a persona?" She didn't _feel_ like one or the other, but I couldn't help but ask.

"The heck are you talking about? Can't you tell what I am?" The way she spoke made it seem like common knowledge.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking."

"Heh , fair enough. I suppose I could tell you, since it seems you're not that smart."

Hey no need to insult me. "My name is Cirno, I am an Ice Fairy!" She then... struck a pose? "And I am the strongest being in Gensokyo!"

"An ice fairy...Okay?" Really, what else can I say? "And what exactly _is _Gensokyo?" She then gave me a look that basically said 'Are you an idiot?'

"You don't know what Gensokyo is?" I proceeded to shook my head. "Wow, you must be one big idiot then!" Thanks. "It's the name of the place we're in, obviously!"

"What, the name of the lake?"

"No, the name of this world."

"This isn't earth then?"

"Umm, I think so? I don't really know much about that stuff."

"You're the strongest being in this place, yet you don't know much about it?"

"Just because I'm the strongest doesn't mean I'm knowledgeable damnit!" She's getting a little angry now. "You're really rude you know! You haven't even thanked me for saving you!"

"Saving me?" Was she the one who...

"Yeah, I was the one who pulled you out of the water you know!" She crossed her arms before continuing. "Honestly, if you don't know how to swim, then don't jump into the lake! How stupid do you have to be?"

"That's not what happened damnit!" Why would I even jump into the lake with clothes on, speaking of which, it seems that my clothes had returned to to their original form of my Shujin Academy uniform. "Tch, I fell from the sky"

"The sky? So you can fly, human ?"

"If I could, then i wouldn't have fallen."

"Er, I knew that!" If you knew then why did you ask? "A-anyway look! You're probably not from around here right?"

"Well, obviously."

"Then you should go talk to the other humans, and maybe even that annoying shrine maiden."

"There are other humans here?"

"Well duh, there's even a whole village of them!" Oh yeah, I did saw one when I was falling to my near-death.

"Can you tell me the way there, then?"

"Err... I sort of forgot."

"I see..."

"..."

"Welp, guess I'll just walk in a random direction then." I turned around to leave.

"H-hey, wait!"

"What?" She seems to be hesitating before starting to talk.

"There might be someone who can tell you the direction of the village," I suppose there's a 'but' that's going to be said soon.

"_But,"_ There it is. "You might be in danger if you _do_ decide to go to their location."

"Well it's better than nothing." And it sure beats walking randomly.

"Alright, if you're sure," She pointed in a certain direction behind me. "There's a mansion in that area. You can't see it right now because of the mist, but it shouldn't be far. The people that live there _are _a bit questionable, but as long as you don't break inside the place then it should be fine." Huh... that was actually quite helpful.

"Thanks, both for pulling me out of the water and this."

"Heh, no sweat. It's nothing that the strongest couldn't handle!" You're still quite cocky though.

"You're name's Cirno, right?"

"Yup, never caught yours though..."

"It's Ren, Ren Amamiya." And suddenly,

**I am thou, thou art I... Thou hast reacquired an old vow.**

**It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.**

**With the rebirth of the Fool Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...**

**Cirno, The Fool : Rank 1**


	2. Of Jail Cells and Scarlet Mists

The walk to the 'nearby' mansion took a short while. But it was plenty of time for me to think about my current situation. Namely, the fact that I should be dead instead of being... wherever I am right now. Did the shot miss, and I just fell unconscious? That doesn't really explain why I ended up falling from the sky. Or maybe the shot did hit me and I just fell into a coma, and that this is all a dream? Because this place sure felt like one.

The scenery, from what little I have seen of it, was quite unlike anything I have ever encountered before. Though that is not really surprising considering that I spent most of my life in cities and such. But it's not just the scenery though, there were other more peculiar things in this place. For example that so called 'Ice Fairy' I encountered earlier, Cirno. Not only that, I even managed to bond with her, enough for her to be a confidant at least. Why the Fool Arcana though? I thought I already had that Arcana with Igor, or did I lose it? I had so many questions and yet no answers seems to be appearing. What did begin to appear though, is the mansion.

"Wow, there really is one." The mansion was, not quite what I expected. I was expecting a traditional Japanese style mansion, but what was before me was definitely what you call a European styled one, straight from the middle ages though you can tell that the mansion is quite old it still looks quite clean, as if it was taken care of every day. There was a wall surrounding the mansion, forcing anybody who wanted to enter into either, climbing the wall or going through the front gate. I of course, chose the latter.

"Oh? A person..." There was a woman standing in front of the gate, I assume she is a guard that's assigned to the gate. Though she's not doing a very good job of it, seeing as how she's currently sleeping while leaning on the wall. I decided to approach her. Upon getting closer, I was able to get a better view of her. She wore a green beret which sat on top of her long flowing scarlet hair. A short sleeved white blouse can be seen under her green chinese styled dress, that did nothing to hide her alluring figure. Seeing as how she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, I decided to call out to her.

"Umm, excuse me?" She must've been very tired seeing as how she didn't even slightly react to my greeting. Seeing no other option, I decided to try waking her up. I was going to shake her shoulder, however before my hand reached her, something suddenly grabbed my arm and the sensation of floating and weightlessness quickly enveloped me. 'Why is the world upside down?' I did not get an answer before my head hit the concrete floor, knocking me out.

()-()-()-()

"Gah! Crap.." Exclaimed Hong Meiling, the red-haired gatekeeper of Scarlet Devil Mansion. Currently on the ground beside her, was an unconscious human. He had black frizzy hair along with a pale face. he was wearing a uniform, of what kind though, Meiling didn't know. "What was a human doing here anyway..." She had thought that he was some sort of intruder, and accidentally knocked him out. She sighed, "Let's hope he wakes up before Sakuya notices this..."

"Notice what, Meiling?"

"Gah, Sakuya-san?!" The chief maid of Scarlet Devil Mansion had suddenly appeared. The silver haired maid had a tendency to suddenly appear from nowhere, then again, most people with the power to stop time tended to do the same. After calming down, Meiling attempted to explain what had happened. "Hehe, well you se-"

"Don't bother, I can guess what happened here." Interrupted Sakuya emotionlessly. She then looked at the unconscious boy on the ground. "Hoh... those clothes."

"A bit odd aren't they?" The clothes the boy was wearing is quite unlike anything that can be found in the human village. It didn't took a genius to figure out what the boy was.

"He's an outsider... Although he does feel a bit strange." Outsiders, are humans from the outside world that somehow ended up in Gensokyo. This pleased Sakuya, it could prove beneficial to her mistress. "Hmm, doesn't matter I suppose. Let's take him inside."

"Huh?"

"Did you not hear me?"

"Oh! Y-yes Sakuya-san!"

()-()-()-()

"An outsider?" The person who spoke was a girl sitting on a throne. this person, who had the height of a small child, was the master of the mansion. Her name is Remilia Scarlet. She is one of the two vampire youkai that currently resided in Gensokyo, the other one being her little sister, Flandre Scarlet.

"Yes, Remilia-sama." The fairy maids of the mansion was currently carrying the still unconscious boy. "Meiling had found him at the front gate."

"Good job, he'll be a fine meal then." Due to a contract that was made between the residents of Gensokyo and the vampires, she was unable to eat the humans that resided in Gensokyo, other than the ones provided for her. The contract however, does not prohibit her from eating outsiders, seeing as how they are not from Gensokyo. One human is enough to last her for quite a while, her light appetite allowed that. "Well then, put him in the dungeon for now." Sakuya then ordered the fairies to do just that, and they woefully complied. "Now then, Sakuya."

"What is the matter, Remilia-sama?"

"I assume the preparations for our next plan is ready?"

"Yes they are Remilia-sama. All that is left is for you to give the order." Sakuya bowed at her master. It is a simple sign of respect, one that the late Scarlet had gotten quite used to.

"Good, we shall commence it quite soon." For now though, some tea will do her some good. "Bring me tea then, after that you are dismissed, Sakuya." She then nodded, before disappearing from sight, as if teleporting instantaneously. Not long after, she reappeared holding a tray that held her master's tea set. Remilia then took a sip from her tea cup. "Haah, good as usual, Sakuya."

"Thank you, Remilia-sama." Yes, nothing too unusual has happened in the Scarlet Devil Mansion today... that will soon be changing however.

()-()-()-()

"Wow... so _this_ is the Scarlet Devil Mansion." The one who said this was currently sitting on top of her bamboo broom, which was floating quite the distance off the ground. She had bright yellow hair, and was wearing a large witch's hat. Her witch-styled attire mainly consisted of the color of black and white, with the occasional dash of purple. "Welp, time to get to work-daze!" Her name is Marisa Kirisame, a self proclaimed 'ordinary magician'. some may call her by other names, 'a no good thief' would be one of them. Though she would vehemently deny these claims, by saying something along the lines of _I'm just borrowing these stuff, not stealing __them-ze! _

"That was easier than expected." She had successfully entered the premise of the mansion undetected with ease, this was mainly due to her experience, and the fact that the gatekeeper was sound asleep. "Now, to find a way inside." The front door was out of the option, due to fact that it simply wasn't the most subtle way of entering. She also thought about breaking in through one of the windows, but she quickly dismissed it, simply because it would make too much noise. Seeing as how there are no good options yet, she decides to just scout the premises of the mansion for now. Her searching quickly bore fruit, as she found a potential way inside the mansion. "A cellar door, here? Locked though... Oh well, guess I'll just have to unlock it then." The lock on the cellar door was quickly dismantled, thanks to her dexterity. She then entered through the door, and found herself inside the lower levels of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

She navigated her way through the basement, and soon found a rather interesting situation. "Hmm, there's gotta be some stairs to go up somewhe-"

"Make sure to lock the door, wouldn't want him escapi- Huh?" Two fairy maids were currently standing in front of a room, it wasn't the only room in that corridor however. The doors was arranged much like a jail cells, there were about a dozen doors. One of the fairies, who was just done fiddling with the keys, turned to her companion.

"What's wrong?" Her friend was currently staring at an empty space at the end of the corridor.

"Hmm, it's nothing. Thought I saw something just now."

"Hah? What in the world could be down here?"

"Like I said, probably nothing." She dismissed what she saw as simply a mistake on her part. "Well whatever, let's just go back up and relax." She then moved to return to the upper floors, and her friend followed suit. Silence then returned to the corridor.

"Whew, thought they noticed me for a second there." Marisa then came out of her hiding place. "Now, I wonder what they were doing down here?" Seeing as how the fairies locked a certain door, the yellow haired magician decided to start there. Once she got closer, she slid open the eye level slot on the door. What she saw inside was quite interesting.

()-()-()-()

"Ugh, my head." Honestly, just how many times will I get knocked out today? Realizing that I was currently lying down on a bed, I quickly sat up to get a gist of my surroundings. The walls that surrounded me was made of cold grey stone. The size of the room was quite small, similar to a jail cell, something that I was quite familiar with. There was a single window inside the room, though it was as small as a peephole, and had bars, preventing it to be used for escaping. "Nothing like waking up in Leblanc, it seems."

"What's a Leblanc?"

"Gah?!" Suddenly a feminine voice was heard, coming by the direction of the door. "Wha- who's there?!"

"Don't be such a scaredy-cat ze!" Upon closer inspection it appears that there is a slot on the door. Currently a pair of bright-brown, almost yellow eyes can be seen looking through the slot. "What did you do to end up here?"

"I'm wondering about that myself, and where is 'here' exactly?" The last thing I remember is standing in front of the mansion, wait don't tell me-

"This is the Scarlet Devil Mansion-ze!" Why does she keep saying 'ze' all the time? "You didn't know even though you're locked up in here?"

"No, I didn't." I sighed, "All I wanted was directions dammit." How did it end up with me being locked up in a cell? I focused my sight back on the pair of eyes on the slot. "Who're you anyways?" It didn't seem like she was a resident of this mansion, seeing as how she wasn't aware of who I am.

"Me? I'm Marisa Kirisame, an ordinary magician. And as to why I'm here, well let's just say I'm here to borrow some stuff." Well that wasn't suspicious at all. Not that I particularly cared though.

"Well, can you help me out?"

"Not sure what you want me to do here-ze." Isn't it obvious though?

"Can you unlock the door? Or maybe find the keys?" Finding the keys would be quite a longshot, but at this point I'm quite desperate.

"The keys are with the fairy maids-ze." Fairy maids? "And as to unlocking the door... Well, it shouldn't be too hard." That's great then. "But the thing is, I'm not really sure why I would wanna do that." Upon seeing my confused expression she continued. "See, if I unlock the door, then it's gonna be great for you, but I don't see it benefiting me very much here." Ah, I see. Well it made sense I suppose.

"Look, if you unlock the door then I'll be owing you one. I'm not sure _how_ I'm gonna be paying you back, but I will. And I know that the words of a guy that's stuck in a cell isn't the most trustworthy thing, but it's all I've got." It seems my words have reached her, as I could see her thinking about my proposition.

"How about this then, let's compromise-ze!" She then threw something at me, through the door slot. I caught it, and proceeded to look at what it was.

"A lockpick?" It was a bit different that the ones I'm used to, namely the ones I used to unlock the chests inside Palaces and Mementos.

"If you're able to open the door with that, then I'm guessin you're smart enough to not cause a ruckus once you're out. Well I gotta get going now, good luck-ze!" She then disappeared from my view, or at least what little I have of it from the door slot. "And don't forget that you owe me!" Don't worry, I won't. I then took a look at the lockpick and door once more.

"Well, time to get to work." Before I knew it, blue flames surrounded my body, and my Shujin uniform had turned into my Phantom Thief outfit. "Alright, let's crack open this thing."

()-()-()-()

"Well he was a pretty interesting guy." Not a lot of people had the [guts] to make an offer like that while locked up in a cell. It might've been him being desperate, but Marisa didn't think of it that way, put it simply, she had a good feeling about him.

"Still, I should focus on my current objective-ze." Upon further exploration, she _presumably_ had found the stairs that led up to the ground floor, but something else had piqued her interest however. It was a set of stairs that led further underground. "Wonder what they could be hiding down there?" Relenting to her curiosity, she went down to Investigate. The stairs led to a single door, upon entering it, Marisa found what she saw to be quite interesting. The door led to what she presume to be a bedroom, but it wasn't a normal one by any stretch of the imagination. there were knives stuck in the walls, as if someone was playing throwing knives without a suitable target. Toys and dolls were strewn about on the floor, some in noticeably worst shape than others. Particularly the dolls though, they looked like they were crushed. But the weirdest thing had to be the king-sized bed inside the room. The bed itself was normal, but what lied on top of it clearly isn't. It was a coffin, and a pretty well made one at that. She guessed it was made out of ebony or some such.

"Nothing ventured nothing gained I guess." Marisa then proceeded to approach the bed and the coffin. On closer inspection, she realized that the coffin wasn't locked, so she decided to open it. "Nothing..." Indeed, the inside of the coffin was empty. But she had no time to ponder about that however.

"Who are you?" The voice startled Marisa, turning around she realized the voice came from above, what she saw was just as startling. It was a small frail looking girl, she had short light blonde hair that was tied into a single ponytail on her side. She wore a red skirt and vest, underneath it was a white shirt. She also had a white mob cap with a red bow. She had scarlet coloured eyes. The most striking feature about her are the wings and tail she had. the wings she had was quite thin, almost like twigs, attached to them were rainbow coloured crystals. the tail she had was also quite thin. The end of the tail was shaped like a spade suit in a deck of cards.

"Geez, you startled me." Regaining her composure, Marisa proceeded to introduce herself. "My names Marisa Kirisame, a...an explorer." Let's go with that.

"I'm Flandre Scarlet. Nice to meet you, onee-chan." The sadistic smile she showed on her face wasn't very comforting. "It's rare to see a human here. Usually it's just Sakuya-san." Glowing lights of energy suddenly appeared behind her, and shot out towards Marisa. She jumped out of the way, making the shots barely graze her.

"Hey, don't just start shooting out of nowhere!" Marisa then got on her broom to levitate.

"Come on, let's play onee-chan!" Flandre started laughing and grinning while shooting her bullets at Marisa. "Hopefully you don't break as easily as my toys!"

()-()-()-()

The master of the Scarlet Devil Mansion was currently sitting on her throne. Floating in front of her was a large ball of scarlet coloured energy. Anybody that was slightly versed in magic could feel it's raw power. "With this, all of Gensokyo will be under my rule."

There were four people currently facing the throne. The only human there was Sakuya Izayoi, the silver haired chief maid of Scarlet Devil Mansion, with the power to stop time. Even though human, she was still quite powerful. There was a youkai, Hong Meiling, the red haired gatekeeper. Her martial arts skills and tai chi are unmatched. Besides her was the purple haired librarian of the mansion, Patchouli Knowledge. Born a magician, her skills are almost unrivaled, only hindered by her poor health. The final person in the room was Patchouli's assistant, Koakuma. She was the only devil that resided in the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Humans, gods, youkai, no matter what stands, they will all bow down before me." Her hand then made a gesture, releasing the condensed energy. "Now, let the night shroud all of Gensokyo!"

()-()-()-()

"Well that took longer than I expected." Thanks to my [Proficiency] I had been able to unlock the door. Though it did take quite a while, due to my unfamiliarity with the lockpick. "Didn't help that those sounds distracted me." While I was in the middle of unlocking the door, I had heard strange sounds further in the mansion, they almost sounded like explosions. "Well, no time to think about that now. Best I get out of here." Or at least that was the plan.

The moment I tried to step outside the cell, something peculiar happened. The light that was coming from the grated window behind me suddenly disappeared. Piquing my curiosity, I decided to investigate, what I saw was quite something. The reason the light from the sun disappeared, was because something was blocking it. The thing that was blocking it was this... Scarlet coloured mist. The mist was coming from what I can only assume, this mansion. It was spreading in a relatively quick rate through the sky, it was quite alarming. "What the hell's happening?" Whatever it was, it seems the source was coming from this mansion. As foolish as it sounds, I decided to investigate. I was and still am, the type of person to pursue trouble, or was it trouble that pursued me? And so I left my cell, and went deeper inside the mansion.

()-()-()-()

Somewhere in Gensokyo, there is a certain shrine. It was an old one, though it was not dilapidated by any means. To go to the shrine, you must first climb up a long set of stairs, perhaps that was the reason the shrine gets few visitors. After the climb, you will be greeted with the sight of a red Shinto gate, and the shrine itself. It is known to many as the Hakurei Shrine. Currently on the shrine porch, was the Hakurei Miko (Shrine maiden) sitting down. She had just cleaned the shrine, and swept the leaves, and was now relaxing and enjoying her tea, this happened almost everyday. The Miko had black raven hair that was tied with a red ribbon at the back of her head, and matching tubes on her sidelocks. The outfit she wore is a red skirt, and a sleeveless red top, and she also wore white detached sleeves that exposed her shoulders and her sarashi. She is sometimes called the red-white Miko, due to her colour scheme. Though most people either call her the Hakurei Miko, or by her real name, Reimu Hakurei.

Her relaxing day did not last however. Suddenly, a red mist can be seen in the distant sky, even from the shrine. Reimu immediately knew that this was caused by a youkai. You see, the Hakurei Miko's duties are not limited to just cleaning and taking care of the shrine. They are also the guardian of the Great Hakurei Barrier, and are youkai exterminators. The miko then stood up, and grabbed her gohei.

"Geez, it was such a good day as well." The Hakurei Miko was also notorious for being quite lazy. "Complaining won't fix the problem though, guess I'll have to take care of this one." After she said those words, she proceeded to float off the grown, and flew to her destination, the Scarlet Devil Mansion.


	3. The Two Vampires

Navigating through the Mansion was quite similar to the palaces I'd been through. The only thing missing was my party members, and by god did I miss them. I wonder where they are now? Are they safe? Still, no use wondering about that now, I'll just have to find out about that later. For now I was focusing on getting to the center of what was happening. After I had escaped from my cell I quickly found out a set of stairs that led to the ground floor, the odd thing was though, is that the walls and floors in the area was quite damaged, a contrast to what little I have seen of the other parts of the mansion. The damage was seemingly caused by an explosion of some sorts, judging by the scorch marks and the debris everywhere. This was probably the same explosion that I heard back in my cell. Thankfully the stairs were still usable, thus allowing me to reach the ground floor. Once there, I proceeded to observe my surroundings.

There were fairy maids strewn about on the floor, they were all knocked out. The kind of damage that I saw in the bottom floor can also be seen here. "What did this?" Whatever caused this kind of destruction had to be quite powerful, as powerful as a shadow at least. I then continued to follow the trail of destruction, hoping that they will lead me to my objective. Along the way, I discovered that some of the fairies had awoken. Deciding that I probably should avoid confrontation with them, I tried sneaked past them under the cover of the rubble and shadows. It had proven to be quite easy, probably due to all the experience I got from sneaking in palaces. The trail finally led me to a large door. Entering through the door, the sight that greeted me was quite something.

The door lead to a library, a large one at that. There were bookshelves arranged in an orderly fashion, the shelves was quite high, almost reaching the ceiling of the library, and each one filled to the brim with books. It would've been quite impressive, if it wasn't for the craters and debris that littered the place, they seemed to be caused quite recently as well. Further in I could hear the sounds of explosion in the deeper parts of the library. To get a better view, I proceeded to climb up the bookshelves, it didn't take too long to reach the top. Jumping across the bookshelves, I could hear the sounds getting louder and closer. "Finally, there they are."

They made quite the sight. The blonde haired girl from earlier, Marisa if I remember correctly, was currently flying through the air, attempting to dodge the... lasers? Energy beams? Whatever they are, while also shooting back some sort of star-like projectiles. The one shooting the energy beams was a purple haired girl, who was... floating in the air. I honestly shouldn't be surprised at this point. They were not the only girls that was here however. On the ground, there was a crimson haired girl with black bat wings on her back. It seems she was just observing the show for now. The last person in the room was also in the air, though her situation was quite different than the others. She appeared to be a child with blonde hair. She also had wings on her back, though they looked more like twigs with crystals attached to them. The amount of people with wings in this place is quite alarming. Anyway, the little girl is currently trapped in the air, ensnared inside a ball made of what seemed like water.

Rather than just idling around on top of bookshelves all day, I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to repay the favor that Marisa did for me. And so I ripped of my Phantom Thief's mask, and summoned Arsene. "Eiha!" Eiha, the dark spell that some personas used. Usually the way it attacks, is by emerging from the ground up, swallowing the enemy in a dark red almost fire like darkness. But this time's a bit different. The attack came out of Arsene's hands, a large ball of crimson darkness heading straight towards the purple haired girl, in a manner not unlike the balls of energy that I saw earlier. The devil girl down below saw what was happening though.

"Patchouli-sama, look out!" Patchouli, which I assume is her name, turned around, though it was too late.

"Huh?!" The dark ball was already in front of her. She tried to graze past it, but ultimately failed. "Kyaaa!" The ball exploded, sending her flying into a nearby bookshelf. Though it wasn't the end of the ongoing battle however, as the red haired devil decided to join in.

"How dare you do that to Patchouli-sama! Take this!" She then launched a myriad of small fireballs at me. Sensing danger, I attempted to change my persona to something that was resistant to fire. But that was the moment where I realized something that I had failed to notice.

'My other personas are... gone?!' The only presence that I could feel was that of Arsene, the others were just... empty. Realizing the danger I was in, I resorted to dodging the fireballs to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately some of the fireballs hit the bookshelf I was standing on, disrupting my footing. Unbalanced and under attack, I was knocked off the shelf. Realizing that I was falling to the ground, I closed my eyes and protected my head, bracing for the impact. Suddenly though, someone grabbed me by the collar.

"Gotcha!" The feeling of falling disappeared, and I then opened my eyes. Turns out it was Marisa who saved me, once again. "Up you go-ze!" She pulled me up, and I sat behind her on the broom, there wasn't much space, but I didn't really have time to complain.

"Thanks, guess I owe you another favor huh?" We were currently dodging the attacks that came from the red haired devil.

"You know it!" She then turned around the broom to face the devil. "But for now, let's just focus on dealing with this devil-ze!" I couldn't agree more.

"Tch, these intruders keeps suddenly appearing like rats." It seems Patchouli was up and about again, though she did look a little worse for wear. "Agh, my anemia!" Yup, definitely worse.

"She's back, Marisa."

"I know." She then pulled something from one of her pockets, it was some sort of small device that had an octagonal shape, and it seemed to have a Yin and Yang symbol on the middle. She pointed the device at the devil and Patchouli "Don't worry about it-ze! This'll be over quick!" And then the world was engulfed with light.

()-()-()-()

"Geez, there's way too many youkai today."

The first youkai I encountered on the way here was Rumia, the Dusk Youkai. She came flying at me in her usual crucifixion pose. I defeated her rather easily. The second youkai is hardly worth mentioning. It's the idiot ice fairy, Cirno. The third one was the gatekeeper of the mansion, Hong Meiling. I just needed to keep my distance and fire away at her with my danmaku. The fourth and latest one wasn't a youkai, but she sure seemed like one. It was Sakuya Izayoi, the human maid of Scarlet Devil Mansion. Her time stopping abilities proved to be quite the hassle. Still, I'm not the Hakurei Shrine maiden for no good reason. With a little bit of clever tricking, I managed to defeat her.

Now I was making my way to the center of the mansion. There were quite a number of maid fairies standing in my way, but I dispatched them with ease. Eventually I found myself in some sort of throne room. Sitting on the throne was the infamous vampire, Remilia Scarlet.

"Well, if it isn't the Hakurei Miko, Reimu." She seemed to be unsurprised to see me. "I see you managed to get past my servants"

"Yeah-yeah. Look, can we just get straight to the point? I'm way too tired for this." I pulled out a few of my paper charms, and pointed my gohei at her. "You're the one causing this incident, right?"

"Got it in one, I'm impressed." She then stood up from her throne, and looked down at me. "How did you guess?"

"You shouldn't underestimate a miko's instincts." Yes, my instincts tended to be pretty accurate, whether in battle or in investigation. "Now, you're gonna stop this mist or what?"

"And why should I do that?" She then looked at the sky. "With this mist I'm basically unstoppable. Soon all of Gensokyo will serve under me."

"Somehow, I doubt that's gonna happen," I looked at her straight in the eye. "I'll make sure of it."

"Ho ho, come at me then Hakurei Miko. Let's see if you can handle the power of the Scarlet Devil Vampire!" She made a gesture, taunting me.

"Fine, don't complain if I end up exterminating you." It seems a spell card duel is inevitable at this point. And then, just as we're about to start, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Hey, wait!" We both looked to see who it was.

()-()-()-()

"What the heck was that?!" Me and Marisa was currently walking through the library, after defeating both Patchouli and Koakuma.

"Hmm? Whatcha' talking about-ze?"

"I'm talking about the giant laser that came out of your little device." The magic that Marisa used nearly brought the whole building down, I'm sure.

"The device's called the mini-hakkero." She then crossed her arms, and put one hand under her chin. "So you're talking about my [Master Spark] huh? So what do ya think? Pretty impressive right?" Impressive was an understatement.

"Yeah, that it was. Still, if you could do that then why didn't you use it from the start?" Seemed like it could make short work of anybody.

"Eh, I tried to, but Patchy kept shooting at me with her spells. Your distraction helped though, speaking of which." She then turned to look at me. "Why didn't you tell me you can use magic? Would've asked for your help in a spell card duel-ze!" I shrugged

"You didn't ask." I found her incredulous expression amusing. "Anyway, what's a spell card duel?" Sounds like a children's card game.

"Eh, you don't know?" I shook my head at her question. "Well, it's a system that was made so that humans and youkai can settle disputes without bloodshed." If I remember correctly, youkai is the term used to describe folk creatures and supernatural beings.

"Youkai? Do they really exist?"

"The heck you're talkin' about-ze? Patchy and Koakuma are youkai!" Ah, so they're youkai. I had thought that Patchouli was human. "Besides, aren't you one yourself?" Now it was my turn to look confused.

"I'm not, I'm a human. What makes you think I'm a youkai?" What put that idea inside her head?

"The fact that you can use magic, unless you're a magician. And also you're clothes-ze." Oh yeah, I was still in my phantom thieves attire. With a simple thought, my Shujin uniform returned and replaced it. "See?! I don't know any magic that can do that."

"It's not magic, it's..." Now that I think about it, I didn't really know much about persona's or anything related really. "It's complicated. What I do know is that I'm neither a magician nor a youkai." That I was sure of.

"Hmm... Whatever you say-ze." She turned her sight back to the front. "Oh, isn't that..." We could see a silhouette past the smoke and dust. "It's Flandre-ze!" It was the child that was trapped in the aquatic ball from before.

"Marisa-neechan!" The child, Flandre, started running at us. It was then that I noticed something. The bookshelves surrounding us was structurally damaged, probably from the earlier battle. There were visible cracks in the wood, and some were even slightly leaning on one side. You can tell that they'll probably fall at any slight disturbance. I didn't know if it was just bad luck or something else, but the moment Flandre started running, one of the bookshelves seemed to topple over, and was about to fall on her. Marisa and Flandre noticed it too late, I however didn't.

"Look out!" I immediately sprinted at Flandre and tackled her. I protected her the best I can with my body. The bookshelf came crashing down on me. The pain was unbearable, but the only thing I could do is grit my teeth. Marisa also sprinted over, and with quite the effort lifted up the bookshelf just enough, so that Flandre and I could slip out. "Hah, my everything hurts." I stood up and gasped for air.

"The heck'd ya do that for-ze?" Marisa seemed exasperated for some reason.

"To protect the girl obviously!" I said while pointing at Flandre. She was giving me a confused look, why was she doing that?

"She's a vampire!" Exclaimed Marisa. "Pretty sure she could lift the whole bookshelf with one arm if she wanted to." I looked at Flandre for conformation. Now in hindsight, the wings on her back should've been a giveaway.

"Hehe..." Hey don't just stand there and giggle! "Still, you looked kind of cool there onii-san!"

"Thanks, I guess." I scratched my head awkwardly.

"Anyway, you both managed to beat Patchy?"Asked Flandre, she seemed especially curious.

"Obviously." You could feel the smugness in Marisa's voice. "It was mostly me though." Hey, you didn't have to say that!

"Hey, I helped a bit too you know!"

"Hehe, whatever you say-ze!" Marisa then turned her sight back to Flandre. "Guess you're really not a part of this incident huh?" A look of sadness overtook Flandre's face.

"My big sister left me out of this, she _always_ leaves me out of these things." Flandre seemed frustrated at that.

"So, does that mean you're gonna join us?" Marisa asked Flandre. "You said that you were pissed that they always keep you locked up in your room."

"I didn't say I was pissed, it's just that..." Flandre was hesitant, that much was obvious. I did understand her hesitation though. Rebelling against someone who you're familiar with can't be easy, especially if they're family. I decided to give her some of my thoughts.

"Listen, Flandre." Her head perked up at the sound of my voice. "I'm not gonna pretend to fully know what's going on here. But I do understand how you're feeling, just let me say this." Both Flandre and Marisa was listening to what I had to say. "Follow your heart."

"Follow... my heart?" I nodded at her question.

"Would you rather live your life, not knowing what you missed, or-" The words I was going to say resonated inside my heart. "Would you rather live your life, knowing _exactly_ what you missed?"

Flandre lowered her head, it seems she's pondering about what I said. She then lifted her head up, and I could see the look of resolution on her face. "Alright, I'll go face my sister!" I smiled at her.

Suddenly I could feel a hand on my shoulder, it was Marisa. She had a wide grin on her face. "Nice job convincing her, uh..." That expression however, turned into confusion. "What was your name again?"

"Oh right I haven't introduced myself yet." That was quite rude of me. It appears that Flandre was also waiting to know my name. "My name's Ren Amamiya, nice to meet you."

Marisa then pointed at herself. "Alright, let me re-introduce myself. I'm Marisa Kirisame!"

Flandre also waved her arms about. "My turn! I'm Flandre Scarlet!" Suddenly I could hear the sound of chains inside my head.

**Marisa Kirisame, The Magician : Rank 1**

**Flandre Scarlet, The Tower : Rank 1**

The sensation I felt this time is quite different. It was the exact same feeling as whenever I gained a new persona. I checked inside my soul, and sure enough I found myself with two new personas. The first persona I got was Sandman, from The Magician Arcana. I had encountered the moon-shaped persona quite a few times back in Futaba's palace. The second persona was of The Tower Arcana, Red Rider. Red Rider, also known as 'War' was the second horseman of the 'Four Horseman of the Apocalypse'. This was quite interesting, does meeting new confidants also gave me new personas?

"Huh?" A look of confusion suddenly spread across Marisa's face.

"What's wrong?" Bewildered at her sudden confusion, I asked.

"It's nothing, just thought that you felt a lil' bit different just now." Different? Can she sense my new power? Well, doesn't really matter either way.

"Well, we should probably get going." I exclaimed. We've wasted enough time as is.

"Agreed-ze."

"Let's go!"

The trip took a short while. we were following Flandre, seeing as how she's the most familiar with the mansion. There were distractions, mostly in the form of fairy maids, but we took care of them quite quickly. of course by 'we'I mean Marisa and Flandre. I simply cannot compare to them, even with my two new personas. The output at which they fired their magic was quite unbelievable, almost like a machine gun. And from what I've seen, this was quite normal in this place... world... wherever I am right now. Whenever the action stops, Marisa would give me the details of this incident.

We soon arrived at our destination. It was a large room, similar to the throne rooms that was often depicted in historical paintings. To reach the throne, you had to walk up a wide set of stairs. At the throne, was who I presume to be the main instigator of this incident, Remilia Scarlet. And, at the bottom of the stairs was someone that I didn't recognize. She appeared to be a shrine maiden, though her clothes was bit more revealing than most traditional miko's. It appears the both of them was getting ready to battle.

"Hey, wait!" Flandre's voice rang out. It grabbed the attention of the two in front of us. Remilia seemed especially surprised to see her sister.

"Flan? What in the world are you doing here?" Remilia's attention was now all focused on Flandre. "I thought I told you to stay in your room."

"Onee-sama!" Flandre then held out her hand. At first, small sparks flew around her hand, then a huge flow of fire came bursting out. The fire formed a large sword. I could feel the intense heat coming from it. She pointed the sword at Remilia. "I'm here to defeat you, and after that I will leave this place!"

The displeasure was visible in Remilia's eyes. "Just now... I heard something ridiculous coming out of your mouth." Even with Flandre pointing the sword at her, Remilia was completely calm. "You? Beating me?" Remilia then held out her hand, and soon her weapon also appeared. It was a large purple spear, made of pure energy. "What did these _rats_ spew, to make you believe such fantasy?"

"Hey, I'm no rat! I'm Marisa Kiris-"

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say, rat." Remilia interrupted Marisa. That seemed to have miffed her.

"Why do you guys have to act all high and mighty like that?" Marisa said while pouting. Remilia then ignored Marisa and stared at Flandre.

"...Well?" Remilia's question was aimed at Flandre.

"Tch, don't underestimate me. Onee-sama!" And with that, Flandre charged at Remilia.

The clash of Flandre's fire sword with Remilia's spear created a blast that nearly pushed us back. While they were fighting, the girl in miko clothes approached us. Marisa greeted her first.

"Yo Reimu! Guess you got here first huh?" It seems that Marisa was familiar with this 'Reimu'.

"And just what are _you_ doing here? and who's he?" She was referring to me.

"One question at a time-ze." Marisa then put her hands on my shoulder. "This here's Ren. I stumbled into him inside the mansion."

"Ren Amamiya, pleasure to meet you."

"Reimu Hakurei, likewise." She then turned her attention back to Marisa. "So? What's your excuse?"

"I was just here to explore-ze!" Marisa was grinning while saying that. Reimu sighed, as if this was a common occurrence.

"Of course you were." She then looked at the ongoing battle beetwen Flandre and Remilia. "So, who's the other girl?"

"That's Flandre, the vampire's lil' sister." Answered Marisa. "She's got a problem with how Remilia's treating her, and know she's sorting it out."

"So you're saying she's gonna take care Remilia for me?" A smile appeared on Reimu's face. She then glanced at Marisa. "Guess sometimes you can be useful, after all."

"Hey, I'm always useful-ze!"

"Aren't they going too far?" I interrupted their banter with my question. I was referring to the two sisters. Not only were their weapons getting bigger, but they started using magical projectiles as well. Some of which was hitting our surroundings. Suddenly both Flandre's sword and Remilia's spear enlarged to a ridiculous degree.

"ONEE-SAMA!"

"FLAN!"

Their weapons clashed, resulting in a large explosion. This time, the blast really did push us back. After regaining our balance, Reimu noticed something important. "This place is going down!" Massive cracks appeared along the walls, and rubble started to fall down.

"Crap. Ren, hop on!" Marisa was already on her broom, and I wasted no time in following suit. Reimu then started floating, and made way towards an opening in the ceiling. We followed her, whilst dodging the rubble falling down and stray projectiles from the still ongoing battle. Soon enough, we were outside the mansion. But we were not the only ones who reached the outside however. Both Remilia and Flandre also came out, weapons still clashing.

"Onee-sama you idiot!" The insult made a grin appear on Remilia's face. With a cry, Remilia struck Flandre's sword with her spear, causing it to shatter and disappeare. Realizing that her weapon is now gone, Flandre made a guard using her hands. But rather than attacking the now vurnable Flandre, Remilia instead... hugged her. Realizing that her sister wasn't attacking her, Flandre lowered her guard. The confusion was visible in her expression.

"You grew so much before I even realized it." Remilia said while embracing Flandre.

"Onee-sama... You don't hate me?"

"How could I? You're my one and only sister, Flandre." Remilia then stopped hugging Flandre, but still kept her hands on Flandre's shoulder. "I only kept you locked in your room to keep you safe, I didn't realize you were upset because of it."

"I... I also misunderstood you, Onee-sama."

"Listen Flandre, after we take care of these rats and rule Gensokyo, we can play together as much as you want." It seemed that Flandre agreed with this sentiment.

"I also want to fight by your side, Onee-sama!" Remilia nodded her head. And with that, they turned their way to the three of us.

"Well, that just happened." Reimu seemed pretty nonchalant, considering the circumstances.

The two sisters didn't take too long to reach us. Remilia was the one who spoke. "I'm sure you're aware of a vampire's weakness to sunlight." She then gestured at the red sky. "The purpose of this mist is to block out the sun. As it stands, Gensokyo is already under my control!" She then pointed at Reimu "All that is left, is to get rid of you, Hakurei Miko!" It seems she didn't even consider me or Marisa as threats.

"So you want to exterminate me?" Replied Reimu. "That's about as much as I got from your rambling."

"Now, let us proceed. A battle that will decide the fate of Gensokyo!" Both vampires summoned their respective weapons.

"Tch, non of that matters to me. What's important is that I exterminate you!" And with that, the battle began. The two vampires began shooting us with their projectiles. Marisa navigated her way through them, easily enough, all the while shooting back. I also supported them with my skills whenever I could. Reimu flew past the projectiles, it seems she was trying to get as close as possible to Remilia. Flandre saw this however, and with a slash of her enlarged sword, forced Reimu back. Flandre then, using some kind of spell card, split herself into four, and chased after Reimu.

"Reimu's busy with Flandre, let's focus on Remilia!" I suggested to Marisa.

"Gotcha!" We proceeded to put pressure on Remilia. Seeing an opening, I used my persona, Sandman, to activate a skill.

"[Sukunda]!" The magical skill successfully targeted Remilia, and lowered her agility. "Marisa! Now's your chance!"

Marisa then took out her small device from her pocket, and stood on the broom. She then pointed the device at Remilia, and with a cry, "[Master Spark]!" The giant beam came bursting out of the device, destroying anything that stood on it's path.

"Haaa!" Seeing no other choice to stop the [Master Spark, Remilia threw her spear, transforming it into a beam of its own. The two attacks collided, creating a large explosion.

"Hold on-ze!" The blast wave from the explosion was massive.

"And just _what_ am I supposed to hold on tooooooo!" The blast sent me off the broom and flying. And for the last time that day, the sensation of falling enveloped me once again. I tried using Arsene to slow my fall, but it was quite pointless. The battle took place above the lake, so I had no worries of ending as a splatter on the ground. Resigned to my fate, I simply observed the ongoing battle. What I saw was quite mesmerizing. Currently on the sky, is a giant, and I mean _giant_ Yin and Yang ball. It was about the size of a meteor you would see in the movies. It seemed Reimu was the one who made the ball. Suffice to say, it was quite a fantastical sight. It was the last thing I saw before my body hit the water, turning everything black.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Hello! and thank you for reading the 3rd chapter of Phantom Thief of Gensokyo.

As you may have noticed, unlike the other chapters, there's an Author's Note on this one! I decided that it would be appropriate to make one every few chapters or so (Or at least, whenever I feel it's necessary). Though that being said, I don't really have much to write about. Firstly, I would like to say thank you to everybody who gave this story a chance, as I feel like the quality isn't the best, especially the fight scenes, but I am trying to improve every time I write these things.

Alright, with that over with, the main thing I feel I should write about, is information about this fanfic. I will try to update this fic at least once a week, sometimes that's not possible, but rest assured you don't have to worry about long gaps between updates. Now as for the story and plot, well I really don't want to give out too much details but I'll give you the basic outline. If you want to read this fic completely unspoiled, I suggest you skip this part. As you already know, this fic takes place after one of the bad endings of P5. The plot will mainly be about Ren trying to fit in and settling down in Gensokyo, though there will some bumps along the road, some very large.

Edit: I forgot to mention that some of the plot and dialog here is taken from the fan-made anime Fantasy Kaleidoscope, so big ups for the guest that reminded me! Fantasy Kaleidoscope is a fan made anime produced by Manpuku Jinja. The 12th episode is recently released, so I recommend it to anyone who isn't that familiar with the Touhou series. If you're a fan of Touhou then you're probably already aware of it. I'll be using the anime as a sort of basis for this fic, though that does not mean I won't deviate from it however.

Well I suppose that's all for this Author's Note. If you feel like it, please review this story to tell me your opinions, along with any questions you might have!


	4. Shrine and Discovery

When I came to, I was in a room. Not on a bed, I was laying in a futon instead. The wooden floor gave off a comforting feeling, and the traditional walls reminded me of my home country. There was a single door, though where it led, I did not know. After fighting the urge to go back to sleep, I left the futon and opened the door. Turns out the door led out to a main room of sorts. It was a Shinto Shrine, the incense was still burning warmly. There was a number of doors that I assume led to other rooms. The main sliding door that led outside was open, letting the sunlight flood in. The time seemed to be morning to early-noon. Seeing no reason to stick around, I went outside.

The sunlight was shining into my eyes, blinding me for a moment. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I took in the scenery. The shrine was surrounded by trees, concealing it. The shrine wasn't the only building here, however. Next to the shrine, there was a smaller building which I assumed to be a shed of some kind. Leading up to the shrine, was a stone pathway, going under a red Shinto gate. Currently sweeping the leaves off of the pathway, was Reimu. I approached her.

"Reimu-san." Her body tensed on a moment's notice. But it soon relaxed, once she realized it was just me.

"Oh, so you're awake huh?"

"How long was I out?"

"About a day. We had to drag you out of the water you know." Wasn't the first time someone had to do that.

"Yeah, thanks for that. And for taking care of me." That wasn't something people would usually do for a stranger.

"Hmm, don't mention it. I didn't do it out of kindness though." That got me curious. "It was mainly to keep an eye on you. And for me to ask you questions once you woke up."

"Questions?"

"Yes. The first one, what are you?" She stopped sweeping with her broom. Her attention now completely focused on me.

"A human, obvio-"

"Don't lie." A dangerous glint appeared in her eyes. "Others may think you're just an outsider, but I know better." She closed her eyes, as if to think. "As a Hakurei Miko, my senses are far more superior to other people."

"What... what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying, you're not a human." _What? _

"Yes, the feeling that I get from you is far more similar to..." She then opened her eyes and glared at me. "A youkai!"

"You're talking nonsense."

"What purpose do you have, to hide your true self?"

"I'm not hiding what I _am_ in the first place!" Anger was starting to slip into my voice now.

"Keep this up, and I'll exterminate you on the spot."

"I'd like to see you tr-"

"Now, now. Both of you calm down." A mature and elegant voice, suddenly interrupted our debate. I turned my head at the direction of the voice.

It was a woman. She looked to be in her adulthood. She had long blonde hair that reached down to her waist, along with side-tails that went down to her ample breast. She was holding a pale pink parasol, presumably to block out the sunlight. on her head, is a mob cap of the same color. The purple dress she wore, was quite elegant and alluring as well.

"Yukari..." It seemed Reimu was familiar with this woman. Though it seems she isn't too fond of her, if the tone of her voice is anything to go by.

"Come now, Reimu. Is that any way to greet little old me?" The now named Yukari, replied.

"What do you want?"

"Hmph, how rude." A small pout appeared on Yukari's face. "And here I was, about to settle the dispute between the both of you."

"Wait, don't tell me..." Reimu looked between me and Yukari. "Did _you_ have something to do with him?"

"My, my. Jumping to conclusions aren't we?" Yukari then looked at me. "I simply had something to show him, that's all."

"Do I know you, lady?" Something to show me, what did she mean by that?

"My, how rude of me." She then made a small curtsy. "Yukari Yakumo, pleasure to meet you."

"Ren Amamiya." She chuckled.

"Yes, I know." She was suddenly holding a fan that covered the lower part of her face. Where did she even get that? "I know quite a bit about you, actually. Mr. Phantom Thief." That statement made me alert.

"Who are you?!"

"I already told you, didn't I?" She was toying with me. That much I could tell.

"Geez. Can one of you just explain to me what's going on?" Reimu interrupted our back-and-forth with a question of her own.

Yukari shifted her attention towards Reimu, with a playful smirk on her face.

"Don't worry. I'll do just that." That's surprising. "_After_, I take care of Ren-chan over here." Excuse me?

Before I had time to question her intentions, the ground below me disappeared. What replaced it, was some sort of _tear_ in the fabric space. The tear was something straight out of a Lovecraftian book. Inside the tear, you could see darkness, and the most disturbing thing... eyes. these eyes were countless in numbers, each one staring at you. As if gazing into deepest and darkest parts of your soul. Simply put, it was terrifying. Before I had the chance to panic, I had already fallen inside it.

The trip through the tear was short, but it was no less disturbing. By the time I could see the sunlight, my body had already hit the ground.

"Ouch, my back..." I was tempted to just lay on the ground, and go back to sleep. But my common sense dictated otherwise. I got up, and looked at the surroundings. "Is this... a city?" Sky-high buildings was everywhere, along with neon and digital signs. "Reminds me of... Tokyo."

"That's because it is." _Gah!_

The voice startled me. It was Yukari. She had a tendency to appear out of nowhere it seems.

"Don't scare me like that."

"Ufufu. I'll try my best."

"What was that?"

"Are you referring to my 'gaps'? It's simply one the things that my powers allow me to do. Don't worry too much about it."

Heeding her advice, I looked back towards the cityscape.

"This is Tokyo?" It didn't feel like Tokyo however. The city felt... more futuristic. It looked cleaner, the high-rises more in number. There was however, an oppressive feeling about it all.

"A bit different than what you're used to I take it?" My attention shifted back to Yukari. "I suppose that's a given. Seeing as how it's been over a couple of decades since you last saw it."

"Decades?! What do you mean?"

Instead of answering my question, she opted to ask me another question.

"You remember what Reimu said, correct?"

"About me being a youkai?" That was complete nonsense though.

"Yes. It's an important piece to explain what has happened."

"But that can't be true. Reimu probably misunderstood something!"

Again, she ignored me. She instead walked away.

"Follow me." I did what she asked.

The walk was short, but it was still quite suspenseful. We stopped in front of a gate. Yukari opened one of her 'gaps' on the gate. Allowing us to pass through it.

"A cemetary..." The graves were lined up in quite the orderly fashion. They were countless in numbers. Yukari continued to walk pass the graves, I followed her. She stopped near a single grave. Curious, I read the words that was written on the tombstone.

"What...?" Was the only word that came out of my mouth.

**IN MEMORY OF,**

**REN AMAMIYA.**

**20XX-20****XX**

**A True Leader. One That Will Always Be Inside of Our Hearts.**

It was some sick twisted joke, it had to be.

"Do you understand now?" I looked at Yukari. "You... or should I say, Ren Amamiya, has passed away."

My mind was in a haze. I didn't understand what she was saying, nor what I was seeing.

"B-but... I'm still here aren't I? Isn't that prove I'm still alive?" Yukari shook her head.

"No. You are simply a product of the perception people had towards the Phantom Thieves." Perception? Product?

"I...I don't understand. I don't get what you're saying at all!" Confusion, anger and sadness was all mixed inside my voice.

"Youkai are born from the people's fear. Whether it be fear of the dark, monsters. Or in this case, fear towards your group. The power to change hearts _is_ a terrifying one after all. At least, towards the masses."

"So what? I-I'm just some sort of spirit that came from the people's fear?"

"Yes, basically."

"No... that can't be true. I'm not a youkai. I'm a... I'm..."

Before I realized it, my vision became blurry. It was tears. I was crying. I fell on my knees. The tears were rolling down my cheeks and falling to the ground. I was sobbing loudly, and there was not much I could do about it.

Some time passed until I calmed down.

"Are you alright now?" Yukari's tone was kind, as if speaking to a child.

I nodded at her question. "Sorry, I... I couldn't control my feelings."

"Don't be. It's only natural after all."

With my feelings under control, I was able to grasp my situation more clearly. "So... I'm a youkai?"

"Yes, a young one at that." A soft smile appeared on Yukari's face.

A moment passed while I swallowed that fact. After accepting it, another important question popped into my mind.

"Can you tell me what happened? About the Phantom Thieves, I mean." She nodded, and proceeded to tell me about them.

After I... I mean _Ren. _After Ren died, a new Wildcard was chosen by the Velvet Room. Yukari did not tell me who this Wildcard was in particular. The new Wildcard became the leader, and led the Phantom Thieves to victory. With their purpose served, the group disbanded, and went their separate ways. But not before mourning the loss of their previous leader.

"I see... And the reason for my existence, is because of the public's lingering fear of the Phantom Thieves. Along with the grief and mourning of the group itself?"

"Yes. You seemed to have understood your situation quite well." Not crying or sobbing anymore helped quite a bit.

I lowered my head for a moment, before looking at Yukari.

"Yukari-san, thank you. I... I don't know how I would've known about all of this if you weren't here." She seemed quite pleased because of my statement.

"Why, you're welcome." Her eyes softened once more as she looked at me. "There is one more thing however..."

"What is it?"

"Your name. As we've discussed, 'Ren Amamiya' is, as of this moment, gone."

I understood what she was trying to say.

"I'll have to choose a new name, huh?" She nodded. I took a moment to think about it. _A new name... then how about_, "Akira... Akira Kurusu."

"Akira Kurusu... Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The sound of chains reverberated inside my head.

**Yukari Yakumo, The Empress : Rank 1**

The Empress Arcana... Suits her quite well, I think. The persona that I received from her was, Lamia. The half-woman half-snake monster, from Greek mythology.

"My, my. So it's true." Yukari suddenly spoke. "It seems you can gain powers, simply by making 'bonds' with other people."

"You can tell?" The same happened with Marisa and Flandre before, in the mansion.

"Yes, the feeling I got from you has changed. It's gotten more... Youkai-ish." That was an odd way to describe it.

"Huh, I see."

"Well, I suppose it's about time we get back, Akira-chan."

"Can you stop adding the 'chan', please?"

Ignoring my complaint, she opened up one of her gaps. This one I assume, leads back to Gensokyo.

Just before we stepped through it however, she turned around to face me.

"Oh yes. I almost forgot." A welcoming smile appeared on her face. "Welcome to Gensokyo."

()-()-()-()

We arrived back at the shrine. Reimu was sitting at the shrine's porch, waiting for us.

"You're back." She sat up, and looked at us.

"Yes. It was quite an eventful trip." Yukari replied.

"Now... do you mind explaining to me what's going on?" Yukari nodded, and proceeded to give Reimu a basic explanation of my situation.

After digesting the information, Reimu turned to me.

"A youkai that gets power, by building 'bonds' huh..." I nodded. Reimu sighed and turned away. "Well, as long as you don't start any trouble, then it'll be fine... I guess."

"I'm not planning to." Reimu nodded, and turned to Yukari.

"Anyway, It's rare to see... you..." Or at least, she would've, had Yukari not disappeared. "I hate it when she does that."

"She does it often, I take it?"

"Like you wouldn't believe..." She sighed. "So... You changed your name?"

"Yes, to Akira Kurusu. Yukari thought that it would be fitting to change my name. Since, I'm no longer my 'past' self." I didn't know why I chose that name. It just... popped inside my mind.

"Was it hard? Finding out that you're no longer human?"

Was I ever a human in the first place? The one that was human is 'Ren'. I... am 'Akira'. I needed to make that distinction, lest I further complicate my situation.

"It was... Difficult to swallow."

"I see..."

Reimu then offered me tea, something which I graciously accepted. We both sat on the shrine's porch while she prepared it. While I still prefered coffee over any other kind of beverage, it did not diminish the taste of the tea. It was quite roasty, with an alluring aroma.

"Not bitter..."

"Pretty good right?" Reimu puffed out her chest.

It was. She must make it quite often. Either for herself, or...

"Do you get visitors often?" Her shoulders slumped at my question.

She sighed, "If only... The villagers are either too scared of the youkai or just too lazy to pray here. They could at least donate some money, but that's rare too." Why did she sound more dejected by the latter? "Still though, one person _does_ come here often."

"Who is it?" I had a feeling I already know who this person was though.

Reimu was about to answer me, when she noticed something in the distance. I looked at what she saw. It was a black-and-yellow blur.

"Yo! Sunny day, ain't it-ze?" Marisa hopped off her broom, and waved at us. "Ren finally woke up, eh?"

I smiled, "Good to see you too. Oh, and it's Akira now. Not Ren."

Marisa raised an eyebrow. "You changed your name?"

"Yeah... it's a long story." But that did not stop me from giving her a summary though. By the end of it, Marisa was quite slack-jawed.

"So you're a youkai?!" She said, while pointing at me. For some reason, Reimu grimaced, and replied to Marisa.

"Shhh! Not so loud. I don't need a rumor saying that some youkai's hanging out near my shrine!"

"Huh? It's fine! Nobody goes to your shrine anyway-ze." That comment caused Reimu to flush.

"Wha-?! Now you listen here..."

They both bickered back-and-forth for quite a while. But they did calm down, eventually. I got the feeling that they were quite close to one another, and I told them as much.

"Me and Reimu have known each other since way back when-ze!" Marisa said while smirking, and with Reimu just staring blankly at her.

"You're still as annoying as back then." Sensing that another argument was about to unfold, I quickly changed the topic.

"So, Marisa. What brings you here?"

"I usually just come here to relax-ze. But I did come today to check up on you though!"

"Me?" A bad feeling suddenly came over me.

"You still owe me a favor-ze!" And there it is.

"I thought I paid it back at the mansion?"

"Once. I saved you twice, remember?" The jail cell, and then the library, right. "Two minus one, equals one-ze!"

"Alright, I get it. What do you want from me then?"

"Well, how abou-"

"Jeez, lay off the guy will you? He just found out he's a youkai." Reimu interrupted. After a staring contest between them, Marisa relented.

"Fine. I'll wait a while 'fore calling that favor-ze." A smile appeared on Reimu. She then turned to me.

"What's your plan now?" Reimu questioned. I asked her to clarify. "You're gonna need a place to stay. Most youkai tends to live in the forest, maybe even the mountain. I know one youkai that lives in the village. What about you?"

"I... don't know. I don't know anything about the places in Gensokyo to be honest."

"Then why not let Reimu show you around-ze?" Marisa suggested. Reimu raised her eyebrows.

"Huh, me?"

"You're the Hakurei Miko, right? Think of this like preventing a youkai from becoming an incident-starter." Why would I cause an incident in the first place?

"That's kinda troublesome though... But fine. I guess I can show you around the village tomorrow. For tonight, you can just sleep in one of the shrine's guest rooms." That was kind of her.

"Thank you, Reimu."

"At least you're grateful."

The sound of chains echoed in my head, once more.

**Reimu Hakurei, The Priestess : Rank 1**

Apsaras was the persona I acquired. A magic based persona. Mainly dealing ice attacks.

"I see it's quite crowded here already." A feminine voice called out. The three of us looked at the voice's direction.

"You..." A expression of wariness appeared on Reimu's face.

It was the vampire, Remilia Scarlet.


	5. First Party

The Scarlet Devil wasn't the only one who arrived at the shrine. Beside her, currently holding a parasol for the vampire, was a silver-haired maid. The maid wore a stoic expression, a contrast to Remilia's smirk. Next to them, was Patchouli and Koakuma. Patchouli's expression noticeably dampened once she noticed that Marisa and I was here as well. The last two in the group, are both people I was familiar with. The taller of the two, was the gatekeeper, who I presumed knocked me out. The last person was, the little sister of the vampire siblings, Flandre.

"What are _they, _doing here?" Reimu sighed in exasperation.

"My, my. Don't look so glum there, Shrine Maiden," Remilia's smirk did not disappear. "We are here to celebrate your victory, that's all."

"Celebrate?" Reimu's eyebrow twitched.

"Yes. You did save Gensokyo, did you not? Seems like a cause worth celebrating."

"We brought food and drinks as well," the maid added.

"Sounds good to me-ze!" Marisa didn't seem to mind this idea.

"Hey, don't just agree so easily!" Reimu wasn't so easily convinced however.

"Come on, what's the harm? They're even giving out free sake!"

"This might be a good chance to settle down any grudges too," I added.

Reimu said something along the lines of 'Not you too.' before analyzing the group. Reimu's shoulder eventually slumped. "Fine... Just, don't cause too much of a mess," a round of rejoicing could be heard, as we started the party.

The party took place in the back of the shrine. A blanket was taken out of the shed for us to sit on. The cherry trees provided both shade, and a wonderful sight. Food and drinks were passed around as we sat and talked.

"So Re- I mean, Akira-niisan's a youkai?" Sitting next to me, was Flandre.

"Yes. It was quite a shock for me too," I had been telling her about my story. She had listened quite attentively. "Anyway, I see they let you out of the mansion."

"Oh! I had a talk with Remilia-nee, and she said I could play outside once in a while!" Flandre said, with a big grin.

"I see, that's quite nice."

"I'm glad to see you two getting along," the one who had just entered the conversation, was none other than Remilia Scarlet. She turned to me, "And here I was, mistaking you for a human."

"That has happened a lot lately," she had a soft smile. I was still quite wary of her.

"I assume you've already met the other residents of the mansion?" She's probaby talking about Meiling and Sakuya.

Meiling had already introduced herself, while also apologizing for attacking me. It was nothing a healthy dose of awkward chuckling couldn't fix. Contrasting that, Sakuya had just given me a simple and curt greeting.

"Yes, I did. I have not talked with Patchouli yet, however."

"Hmm, I see. Well, she _is_ currently busy scolding the blonde-thief," I looked at the direction Remilia pointed in. Patchouli was currently having a 'discussion' with Marisa, something about stolen books.

"Can't wait until I get an earful," she chuckled.

"You did shoot her in the back, after all."

"She already told you that, did she?"

I should probably apologize to Patchouli. Preferably sooner, rather than later.

"That aside though," I continued. "I do find it interesting that you willing to make amends with us this quickly."

"Do you find it odd?" she tilted her head.

"A bit, yeah. You _were_ saying stuff about 'ruling Gensokyo' after all."

"Oh, that," she chuckled. "That might've been a nice bonus, yes. But that wasn't the main purpose of my actions," this time, it was _my _turn to tilt my head.

I had no time to question her meaning however, as I felt a hand pulling on my clothes. Speaking of which, my Shujin Uniform was quite dirty, along with a few rips and tatters.

"Akira-nii," the one that was pulling, turned out to be Flandre. "Let's play something!"

"Play?" she nodded.

"Hide-and-seek!" she waved her arms about. She was clearly quite excited. Even though she's a vampire I didn't find the heart to say no, so I nodded. Remilia smiled, upon seeing her sister's antics.

"Go on then. It's good to have fun, every now and then." we both didn't stray too far from the party.

"I'll count first then," I told her.

I closed my eyes, and leaned my head on a tree. I counted all the way up until 20.

Once I opened my eyes, she was nowhere to be found. I considered searching near the shrine for her. "Nah, too obvious," and with that, I went deeper amidst the cherry trees.

I spent quite a bit of time searching for Flandre. I was considering giving up, but that's when I spotted a hint of yellow behind a bush.

"Jeez, you really hid a long way from the shrine," I approached her, but that's when I realized. "Huh?"

It wasn't Flandre.

()-()-()-()

The party was going pretty smoothly, in my opinion. Well, then again _smoothly, _in this case, means that a spell card duel isn't gonna suddenly happen- which, often times, they do.

"Oi, Reimu," I heard Marisa's voice as she called out my name.

"What is it?"

"Have you seen Akira?" I shook my head at her question. Marisa seemed a bit worried.

"I think he went playing hide-and-seek with Flandre," I overheard their conversation from before.

"Thing is, Flandre's right here-ze," she jerked her thumb towards her back. I saw Flandre, talking animatedly with her sister. That was odd. Where did Akira go then? We decided to ask Flandre about it ourselves.

"Akira-nii? He must've thought I hid somewhere else!"

"And, you're hiding... here?" flandre nodded with child-like vigor.

"It's the perfect spot! He'll never expect it!" Marisa and I wore a strained smile at that.

Suddenly, we heard rustling sounds, coming from the trees.

"Did you really have to follow me here?" it was a familiar voice.

"Ya said there was a party!" and that was an _annoying _voice

Akira came first, he had a sheepish smile. He was followed by a blue haired fairy, Cirno. After that was the blonde, darkness youkai, Rumia. And lastly, trailing along behind them, was Cirno's friend, Daiyousei.

"I see you brought back some, _unexpected _company," I said.

"Sandwich!" Rumia immediately ran over to the food, arms wide, like an airplane.

Cirno strode her way to the party as well. "It's not a fun party, if _the strongest_ doesn't join!" Daiyousei trailed behind her.

My hand subconsciously rubbed my forehead, "those two things aren't even related..."

Akira walked over to my side, "sorry about that."

I waved his concerns off, "it's fine. Those idiots probably wouldn't do much anyways..."

He started to look around the party, "by the way, have you seen Fla-" his eyes locked on to a certain vampire.

"Flandre!" he sauntered his way over to her.

"Ah! Onii-chan, you found me!"

"What kind of hiding spot is _this?!__"_

They continued to bicker. This pretty much confirmed, what I first thought about this whole thing.

what a troublesome party.

* * *

**AN: **A really short chapter. Due to my finals coming up next week, I probably won't be able to upload the next chapter as quickly. Hopefully the chapter will be done, the week after!


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